Crushed for Our Iniquities: Understanding Isaiah 53

This podcast is the Ministry of Graham Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information on our church, please visit GrahamProquay.org.

I want to confess that I was going to do something different.

Our reading was from Isaiah 53.

And when I when I gave the when I selected the reading, I kind of got stuck there.

And I kind of just got bugged down in Isaiah 53.

And so it's been my meditation all week.

And so I just want to read kind of expositorily through Isaiah 53 and let it kind of shape our thoughts this morning.

Isaiah 53, verse 1.

Isaiah 53:1

Who has believed what they heard from us?

Now think about that for a minute.

Translation, this is going to sound so preposterous that this is God's plan of saving the world.

This is wacko.

Who has believed what they've heard from us?

Translation, you and I should say some things this week that sound unbelievable.

You should say some things about God that sound otherworldly.

Just that people look at you like, what?

Are you serious?

Who has believed what they heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty, that we should desire him.

He wasn't, for most people, a plant, he wasn't this big oak of righteousness.

He was like the sucker growth that grows up around the base of your crepe myrtle.

Then you gotta go out there and cut them off.

If you come by my house in my yard, I have an oak tree, and for some reason, there's like a thousand little oak trees trying to grow in my yard, and so I gotta mow them down, and then I hate those things.

The Bible says to most people, Jesus was like that, just an afterthought.

Verse 3, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces.

He was despised and we esteemed him not.

As one from whom men hide their faces, Jesus was like a car alarm with skin on it.

We've grown so accustomed.

We hear that, woo, woo, woo! And we just keep going, we just talk louder.

Why somebody get that thing turned off?

The Bible says Jesus was that way.

The people are like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.

Verse 4, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

Hear that again.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Surely this was him doing something for us.

And in our little pea brains, we said, No, man, that's bad karma.

I don't know what that guy did to deserve that, but I'm glad it's not me.

Then we forget to have our breath taken away at the thought that it should have been.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with his stripes, we are healed.

I don't know if you've ever crushed anybody before.

It's a humbling experience.

I've crushed somebody before.

When I was eight, I got up one day looking for my brother.

My dad was working on the left front tire of our 1972 Cadillac.

It was only about 24 feet long.

Had bat fins on the back of it.

I said to my dad, Where's Mitch?

And he said, He's in the back seat.

Don't get in there.

I'm working on the car.

And like the kid that I was, I opened the front door and just jumped in, looked over the back seat.

My brother was reading, and I said, Can I come back there?

He said, sure.

And I climbed over the back seat.

When I did, I kicked the car out of gear and it rolled over my dad's chest.

And it crushed him.

Broke six ribs, two vertebrae in his back.

And later that night I had to go face my dad at the hospital in traction.

It's an overwhelming thing to realize that you crush somebody and you can't talk your way out of it.

And the Bible says he was crushed for our iniquities.

And upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And yet, how do we respond to that?

Here's what we did.

All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Let your mind be fixed and focused on that phrase.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

That's where we get the big theological word imputation.

Imputation from the Latin imputar.

And it means to charge to his account.

You say, well, what?

And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all, not just the people in this room.

I mean, how much sin do you think is represented by the people in this room?

I mean, how much sin is represented just by me?

Have you ever tried to put a pencil to how much sin you've committed in your life?

And the Bible says, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all that he imputed on him our sin.

We turned to Side and said, Sydney wouldn't want to be.

We just, this, your life is like a car alarm.

I'm just gonna just just just talk and live above it because I don't want to pay attention to it.

And the Bible says, well, here's the deal.

He imputed, he took our sin and charged it to his account.

Now, to get your your your your your your head around how much rage you should have over that.

And remember the last time there was a charge on your credit card statement that you knew wasn't yours?

Or maybe you've had your identity stolen.

You ever had your identity stolen?

You ever go to refinance your house and realize somebody's got four credit cards in your name and in the name of your children?

You just want to kill people.

Then you realize, oh, they live in Russia.

We can't lay a hand on them.

And you gotta prove, I mean it wasn't me.

It wasn't me, really.

I mean, do I look like I live in four houses?

You say, Well, what's just two months ago, there was a$29.95,$29.95 charge on my credit card.

And you didn't think they killed my wife.

I was on the phone to that credit card company, lickety split.

Hey, I don't know what's going on here, but you guys gotta start manning the gauges up there.

I don't know what that that is not mine.

I blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah dah, dah, I don't recognize that.

And she said, Well, it's charge to, and though it was a name I didn't recognize, it was a parent company of a company that I do business with.

You ever have to eat your anger?

And the Lord, imputation.

That's a sexy word right there, isn't it?

And God took a big turkey baster and injected the heart of Jesus with your depraved nature and your sin.

Just not your nature, but your sin.

He he laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

And so as you come to the table this morning to partake of the body and the and the blood, to remember the body and the blood, don't come willy-nilly like, oh yeah, Jesus died for me.

You should have been stricken and smitten and chastised and crushed, just like me.

And unless you grapple with that, this is just ritual and it's not wonder.

You think, should I stay home and watch Wilmington or should I go to church?

Looks like it might rain.

Let me do the math.

He's not done.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before it shears is silent.

So he opened not his mouth.

Did I tell you I went to Chick-fil-A the other day and they shorted me an order of French fries?

I whipped that truck around like my hair was on fire.

And I expected them to give me like a free brownie or something, or some carrot raisin salad.

And they just looked at me like they're humans or something.

Hey, sorry, made a mistake.

That's it.

That's all you got.

What's my point?

When you're oppressed and you're afflicted and someone gets over on you, how easy do you find it to keep your mouth shut?

The Bible says that Jesus was not experiencing a day of bad karma, but he was taking upon himself the iniquity of everybody, not in this room, but in this world.

And he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment, he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

And they made him his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

See, he was punished for other people.

But his punishment, verse 10, tells us had a purpose, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

The Romans didn't kill Jesus.

You didn't kill Jesus?

God crushed his only son.

Now, somewhere in your theology, you've got to get your head around.

You've got to decrease, and God has to increase on this whole who killed Jesus?

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

He has put him to grief.

When his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

And out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.

And by his knowledge shall a righteous one, my servant, make many to be counted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

See, the punishment of Jesus has a purpose.

And here's the purpose is that you and I get to be counted righteous.

That's imputation again.

See, he gets our sin put on him, credited to his account, and you get his righteousness credited to your account.

So stop walking around saying I'm just a sinner saved by grace.

Now, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, he made him who knew no sin imputation.

He made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we can become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.

Because he was poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many.

And then this last sentence, just a fragment of a sentence, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

It's as if being despised and afflicted and crushed wasn't enough.

After he dies, he prays for people that break his law.

That's why on the cross he could say, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

And so as we prepare to remember and to come and to taste and see that the Lord is good, I want you to do.

I think the probably the most Christ-like thing we could do today is to pray for our transgressors.

And so I want you to do something that's going to sound crazy, and it's simply this.

Think of just this week or last two weeks, if you got to go back a month, uh just think about all the people that have wronged you, that have misrepresented you, that have cheated, stole, lied, told half-truths as the whole truth, misquoted you.

I hate to be misquoted.

I hate when people make an inference about me.

Well, I just thought you would, and then relate to me of that inference.

Yet the Bible says that if I want to be like Jesus, I could pray for those people.

So as we prepare to come, now Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread and said, This is my body offered for you.

This too in remembrance of me.

And after that, he took the cup and he said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

As often as you drink it, do it.

Drink it in remembrance of me.

Translation.

Jesus is saying something that nobody else in the world has earned the right to say.

Never ever get over me.

Can you imagine someone saying that to you at work tomorrow?

Just walking in your office going, hey David, never get over me.

And so he gives us these ordinances, this ordinance of communion.

And is he because he knows that the pace of life and summer will each of us will turn and go our own way.

And he calls us back today just to say, let's think about Jesus for a little bit.

Let's think about the cross.

Let's think about our depravity and the wonder of imputation.

You should look for an opportunity to use that word this week.

Because he charged to his account all of your sin.

And it's all been paid for.

And somewhere in that thought process, you have to ask yourself, then why do I keep sinning?

You don't have to.

Romans 6 says you've been freed from sin.

What shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

God forbid.

Don't you know that all of you who've died have been freed from sin.

How shall you live in it any longer?

The death he died, to sin he died once for all.

But those who live should live a new life.

You're new.

All that's old has been paid for.

And maybe today we could just outgrow the old and deliberately and by choice step into the new.

Let's think about God's word for just a moment.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the that you didn't need a lot of recognition, you didn't need a lot of respect.

You could have acted with swift and severe justice and saved yourself.

But if you saved yourself, you couldn't have saved me.

Me, who is by nature a wretch, and who is so quick to demand justice over things like French fries and charges on my credit card statement that I don't recognize.

And we want to just spend some time praying for them.

Because all these people, us who had turned aside and gone our own way and said, I got it, I got it, I don't need God.

Religion is just a crutch.

All their sin and all the dumb things they would say were just charged to your account and you and you gladly paid it.

We are so by nature, so deeply flawed and sinful, that Jesus had to die for us.

It's the only way we could know God and find forgiveness.

But at the same time, God, we're so loved and valued by God that Jesus, you are glad to die for us.

And so your gladness today is our gladness.

We're glad to just die to ourselves.

We're glad to die to scorekeeping.

We're glad to die, to keep it a record of wrongs suffered.

As a matter of fact, if we've got any records in our head right now, God, let we just let it become a prayer list and we'll just pray for those people.

And so we just want to spend a moment or two, Holy Spirit, just praying for our transgressors.

Those who didn't give us what we think they should have.

Those who've wronged us.

We find in Isaiah 53 a very active Jesus.

He doesn't just die and then sit on the bench and wait for the end of the movie.

He makes intercession.

So let's just take a moment and just intercede.

Just ask the Holy Spirit, is there anybody that I just need to that's transgressed to me, that I need to pray for?

And just release them.

Just let them out of the debtor's prison.

You got them locked up in until they do for you what you think they need to do.

You can be free today from all that.

So Lord, just hear us as we pray.

We pray in preparation.

And when Jesus said on the at the Last Supper, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

He was saying, This is about relationship.

It's not about rules.

Hang out with me, spend time with me, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.

My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

And you'll find yourself being and becoming who the Bible says you are.

They're not rules anymore, they're indicators of what's right.

Let's just be still for a minute and just kind of let the rain sink in on us.

Because it's coming this week.

You know that, right?

It's gonna rain canned hams for three days.

And you probably should lay down and take a nap if it rains this afternoon.

Get the golf tournament on real low, get the house real cold, and just sleep to the glory of God.

And here's why.

Because when you sleep, you're acknowledging, when you rest, you're acknowledging that somebody else is in charge of the world.

And you're in covenant with him.

Just take a minute and just let sink in what needs to sink in.

Let everything else just roll off of you today.

The word of the Lord.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously, freely, without manipulation?

How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?

The word of the Lord.

Isaiah says that you crushed him, that it was the will of God to crush him.

And yet, Paul says in Romans 8 that you graciously, there's such a mystery in the cross, but it's so much meaning.

And so let us leave today believing that you're for us.

And that along with Jesus, you'll freely give us all things.

So we don't have to lie and cheat and steal, manipulate to ensure the outcome that we prefer.

We can trust our Heavenly Father who graciously gives us all things.

We are humbled by that and we want to live in light of it.

Show us how to do that, and we'll do it.

That's our prayer, God.

Make it our experience in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

If you're a guest today, thank you for being a part of our service.

Uh it's a little bit of a different service, communion is.

People always say, uh, well, that's that was the whole service.

Uh we don't like to hurry around communion.

Some of us will be available down front if you if you have any questions about anything you've seen or heard today, or we can just pray with you.

Uh, we'll be available uh when you're dismissed in just a minute, okay?

Hold your hands out.

Your giving God doesn't give to obligate, he gives to remind.

And today he wants you to know that those of you who've just tasted and been reminded of the body and the blood of Jesus, that along with him, he'll graciously give you all things.

Depart now and live like you really believe that.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.

You're dismissed.